Three major customers of Venture Global LNG have approached US energy regulators to consider the LNG developer's request for a one-year permit extension to finish a Louisiana export facility, indicating that they plan to express their concerns, Reuters reported on Thursday. Last week, the LNG developer requested a one-year extension to finish its Calcasieu Pass gas-export plant or to get confirmation that it doesn't need an extension. BP PLC, Shell PLC, and Repsol SA have made requests to contribute their views on the matter, as revealed by documents submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Wednesday. Each of these three companies has lodged contract arbitration claims against Venture Global, citing a shortage of contracted cargoes. Shell has expressed serious concerns about the behaviour of Venture Global and plans to submit comments or a protest in response. The current FERC authorisation is set to expire on February 21; however, the company, based in Arlington, Virginia, has stated that they won't complete the commissioning phase of the plant until later this year. A spokesperson for Venture Global LNG labelled the requests as "unnecessary and premature" and expressed gratitude to their stakeholders, including BP, for their ongoing interest. Since March 2022, the company has been exporting gas from its Calcasieu Pass facility, but it doesn't consider the facility fully operational yet and is allowed to sell cargo during the pre-commission phase under its contracts.
